Note from Pierre: This site has always stressed not only the interdenominational, but also the inter-religious dimension of blessing. Today, for our November blog, we wish to show that even atheists can practice it.
So many of our misunderstandings in life are related to the use of words and, in the history of the Western world, countless people in the Christian religion were put to death, even tortured, because they gave different meanings to words or concepts.
A very dear Irish friend who is just a storehouse of love and practises blessing very generously shared with me what has become one of my very favourite blessing stories. Here it is in her own words.
“This story is about someone I met in the hospital some weeks ago when I went for a routine checkup.
I was in a queue at the café and lines of people were in front of me, and also behind me. Everyone was so preoccupied with their own woes, nobody noticed that the man behind the counter was run off his feet trying to serve everyone.
When I eventually reached the counter, and exchanged some polite chit-chat, upon receiving my change I smiled at him and said: “Thank you and bless you so much.”
With that he looked at me and said: “I am an atheist and I don’t believe in anything like that.” I smiled again and said: “My angel, this blessing is coming from my heart to yours with love. A blessing has no religious connotations and it transcends all religious boundaries, all creeds, all race. A blessing is a gift I give to you today.”
He then smiled and leaned over the counter and looked directly into my eyes and said “Well, in that case, I bless you too.”
Amanda Bradley’s entire blessing is shared in my new book 365 Blessings to Heal Myself and the World
Pierre Pradervand
